/Big Question/ Sound and Vision
21/08/2007 | Filed under Discover > Big Question
What’s the most impressive application of sound or video that you’ve seen on the web this year, and why did it impress?
Hosting specialist
Neil Barton
Hostway UK
I’ve recently discovered Pandora.com, which is a ‘social jukebox’. It allows you to pick your favourite bands and then intelligently searches for other tracks by bands in a similar genre. The site creates a “personalised radio station” for you, starting with just one song, and then includes music which is similar to your initial choice. You can give each track a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ and the programme will modify the choice of subsequent tracks accordingly.
The evolution of the web, particularly in the sound and vision space, has been very interesting recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was already a Facebook plug-in application for Pandora being developed, for example. The contrast between the Web 1.0 habit of having simple hyperlinks to other pages, and the Web 2.0 trend of including the content of other pages dynamically on sites - such as having a miniature display of your Flickr photostream on your blog – is a great illustration of how the web is changing.
I shall certainly be interested to see how the ‘big players’ such as Apple, via iTunes, respond to these new developments. Whether or not they choose to imitate this application, and whether they will allow devices such as the Apple TV to connect to services like Pandora and stream media directly, will be a very interesting area to watch.
Neil is the director of Hostway UK, which provides hosting services in the UK and abroad
Activist
Oxblood Ruffin
Hacktivismo
I’m sure that this is absolutely the wrong answer but I’m saying YouTube. This network is only going to get bigger. Personally, I don’t own a TV. I watch whatever I need to watch on the net. People send me video clips or I find things on news sites that tweak my interest and that usually ends up on YouTube. I can find pretty much everything I need, including “girl street fights”. The dark horse in this whole thing is Joost. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing, but if history can repeat itself then they’lll be worth watching.
Oxblood Ruffin is the founder of Hacktivismo, and is an active campaigner against web censorship
Media & PR expert
Tim Gibbon
Elemental Communications
Easy and obvious choices would be Last.fm http://www.last.fm and Pandora www.pandora.com for sound, but given that I met some of the Last.fm founders in 2002, it doesn’t seem all that new to me. Back then, they were all living and working in the same space and it was obvious that they were doing something really something special.
Both of these wonderful services and many more like them have come on leaps and bounds, especially in the last 24 months, partly due to the media attention that some of them have deserved. I flick between both of these services, but mostly use Pandora because I created and nurtured those stations the most (I have found some absolute gems through Pandora).
The most exciting development for me has to be Photosynth www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129, that was pointed out to me by my colleague Rachel Hawkes on the TED (www.ted.com) website. Created by Blaise Aguera y Arcas an architect at Microsoft Live Labs the software is based on Seadragon technology and simply (and I say this in jest) takes zooming and navigation of images and photographs to a completely different level. The technology is awesome and the detail in which the software allows images and photographs to be presented is both fascinating and intriguing. Visually, it’s one of the most impressive things that I have seen this year bar none. The depth of what can be done with this technology seems endless, and you just have to go and watch and experience it fully.
It was presented to a seminar audience and the presentation was incredible, I wish I would have been there, because the audiences' reaction is not something you see at these gigs, I would have hated to have been presenting after that, it would have been demoralising. Seeing this presentation and experiencing it really got us all excited in the office and makes us wonder what other gems are on the way.
Tim is founder and director of Elemental Communications, a media communications consultancy that caters for traditional and digital media
Project manager
Ane-Marie Peter
on-IDLE
A website exists where you can be immersed in music from every angle. Purevolume.com (www.purevolume.com) has profiles on millions of bands and artists featuring songs, photos, blogs, tour dates and lyrics for the band. You can view other members who like the same bands as you and talk to them about music through the social network. It’s always fun to learn of new music from people or share stories about your own experience at a certain band’s concert. You can also leave comments for bands on their web pages.
Purevolume spans across America and various countries including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Mexico among many others. I like how the website features new bands on the homepage from around the world to give exposure to bands you might not have found otherwise. Music crosses all borders and languages to speak to everyone.
The design and format of Purevolume are similar to that of MySpace, but I like that I can be on a social network that’s all about music. It cuts to the chase and you know that everyone is there to discuss and learn about music.
Purevolume.com is popular with the indie and underground music scene. With so many artists trying to find that elusive record deal, it’s no wonder that these sites exist. It certainly isn’t a new concept and we will undoubtedly see more of them as the industry becomes more popular. Purevolume.com is one of the best places to explore music on the internet at this point in time.
Ane-Marie Peter is the co-founder of on-IDLE and has a background in business management, communication strategies and technology
Ecommerce specialist
Phil Rothwell
Actinic
Until recently I think it is fair to say digital multimedia technologies have failed to live up to expectations. The internet initially promised much, but failed to deliver – let’s face it, the best thing about a web site’s “Flash intro” is the button you use to turn it off.
The problem isn’t the technology it’s the content. Generating any kind of presentation that combines pictures with sounds is hideously complicated. Doing it well is nigh on impossible without special training and talents. Or, so I thought…
Last month I was trying to find a Genesis track, which I couldn’t remember. Googling for “Ripples” I came across a link to YouTube where I found a live performance dating back to the mid-seventies and more footage of other tracks to boot.
I am sure that dying and going to heaven would be much better than this, but it was still pretty good. Before YouTube, it would probably have been impossible for me to see these films, which no doubt would have pleased the kids, but left my life a tad emptier.
So, notwithstanding my embarrassing taste in progressive music and one or two (million) copyright transgressions, the answer to this question is a slam-dunk – YouTube rocks!
Phil is the managing director of the well-known ecommerce software development company, Actinic
Software expert
Ian Moulster
Microsoft
I know this is going to sound like a blatant plug for Microsoft technology... but bear with me. Difficult though it may be to take an objective stance when you’re asked a question that relates directly to your employer’s technology, there is something pretty special going on in the Microsoft world at the moment, and that something is called “Silverlight”. I’m going to do my best to a) be brief and not wax lyrical too unashamedly and b) try to keep this subjective. So here goes ...
Silverlight is a web technology, running cross browser and cross platform, that delivers full-blown rich interactive applications and some incredible high-definition video as well. When I first saw a clip from the new X-Men film running on Safari on an Apple Mac via Silverlight it really blew me away, and made me realise we’ve got something special here. Without doubt this is a sit-up-and-take-notice technology for anyone even remotely interested in the video industry and how to exploit it on the web.
Sounding too much like I’ve bitten on the Microsoft marketing worm? Well it gets better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint). We’re also offering a free streaming service with 4GB of storage that anyone can sign up to. We piggyback off of a worldwide content distribution network (CDN) to ensure high bitrate video delivery: a service known as Silverlight Streaming, provided under the Windows Live brand.
All kidding aside, Silverlight really is going to change the world, and not just the world of video either. I know people will doubt my word – after all, whatever I may say I’m a Microsoft employee and therefore hardly unbiased. But you don’t need to take my word for it, try it yourself. And get ready, because Silverlight is coming, ready or not.
Ian Moulster is senior product manager in Microsoft’s Developer & Platform division in the UK
Designer
Jeff Croft
Blue Favor
The most engaging application of video I’ve seen in the past year is at the recently-redesigned TED.com, home of the “TED Talks” series of presentations from the TED (Technology, Education, Design) conference.
Besides having some of the greatest content anywhere on the web -- the folks invited to speak at TED are truly the greatest thinkers and speakers in the world -- the video player on the site is the best I’ve ever used. It’s got a very clever chapter concept, whereby the talks are split up by topic and the viewer can easily jump from chapter to chapter. It also has a very well-implemented feature that scales the video to a much larger size, all the while remembering your spot in the video.
It’s not a particularly innovative use of video -- it’s just a video player -- but these small features and design cues really show an understanding for and respect of how people interact with video online.
Jeff Croft is a web designer and developer at Blue Flavor, an experience and design consultancy in Seattle
Comments
Nikos Stagakis / 24/08/2007 / 16:41 / http://www.webcertain.com
Yes we all saw many online music and video application during last year and the list is getting bigger. If you approach music in a discovery mood then these are my suggestions
A) http://www.musicovery.com GREAT interface, user friendly and I really like the feature where user can
select music depending on his mood.
B) http://www.soundjunction.org/default.aspa Its been on for a while but I just cant get enough from this one.
Lots of things about musicians and music creation.
